Trip to Kiebingen, Carnival 2010

The carnival parade held in Kiebingen was highly entertaining. I have not been to a parade of this sort before so I did not know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the cold weather and a bit of rain this carnival was well-supported. People involved in the parade were dressed in interesting (and sometimes a little strange) costumes. People of various ages participated in the parade and many adults even brought their small children along and dressed them up in outfits matching their own.

It was evident that a significant amount of planning and preparation went into this carnival. It was well organised and the costumes were beautiful. People were dressed as trees, witches, devils, donkeys, Indians, wolves, bears and other interesting characters. The witches carried broomsticks and the donkeys pulled bales of hay. There was also a marching band providing great music. People involved in the parade acted well and interacted with the crowd by throwing sweets at the crowd or by capturing some of the people and putting them into cages or into a "spinning bowl". The witches tried to scare small children, put hay all over people's heads or even carried some of the people from the crowd along with them into the parade. Some of the witches grabbed people from our group and carried them over their shoulders, covered them in hay or tied their legs together with tape. These acts may all sound a bit scary, but were playful and amusing to watch.

Great food and drink stores were also provided at the carnival and most of us bought ourselves delicious lunch there. Despite the fact that my toes felt frozen at the end of the day I thoroughly enjoyed this carnival parade because it was different to anything I am used to back home in South Africa. The carnival parade provided more insight into German culture.

by Caitlin Smith